


you left fingerprints on my soul

by Quo_Usque



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: CT-21-0408 | Echo (mention), Cuddles, Fluff, Gen, Grief, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Mourning, crying while holding hands, fight me, fives is a sad bro, listen Fives totally got a handprint tattoo after echo died, tup is a good bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:14:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23782180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quo_Usque/pseuds/Quo_Usque
Summary: Tup asks Fives about the tattoo of a handprint on his chest. Fives has the chance to tell Tup about Echo, and things get hopelessly schmoopy from there.Originally posted on tumblr.
Relationships: CT-21-0408 | Echo & CT-27-5555 | Fives | ARC-5555, CT-27-5555 | Fives | ARC-5555 & CT-5385 | Tup
Comments: 7
Kudos: 71





	you left fingerprints on my soul

“So what’s the story behind that one?”

Fives looked over to see Tup, gesturing at Fives’ bare torso as he sat on his bunk and swung his legs up, leaning against the wall behind him. Fives paused in his search for his sleep shirt. His hand unconsciously rose to touch the tattoo over his right pectoral- the outline of a hand.

“One of my batchmates.” he said shortly. “Had a hand painted on his armor.”

“What was his name?” Tup asked. Tup had only been with them a few weeks. No one would have told him yet about Fives and Echo, the Terrible Twosome of the 501st, two halves of the same unit, FivesandEcho, EchoandFives.

“Echo.” Fives closed his eyes, waiting, waiting to see what reaction he’d have to saying Echo’s name. The grief was constant, but the pain came and went these days. Sometimes, it was a flood, a black pit, and he couldn’t mention Echo without feeling it choking him, feeling like he was drowning in it. Other days, he would say “Echo was” and feel nothing. Just numb.

Now, he felt the familiar burning sting rise in his throat, but he swallowed and took a deep breath, and the feeling subsided somewhat. 

“We were the last ones. Of our batch. Rex took us in after we lost the others. Kept us together. We spent the whole war together, me and Echo.” He looked down at Tup. Tup gave him a bleak smile.

“Tell me about him?” he asked. He moved over on his bunk to make room for Fives. Fives hesitated. He wasn’t sure he was ready to talk about Echo. But Tup didn’t know, hadn’t known Echo. And Fives would rather their little brother hear about Echo from him first, rather than from the rest of the guys. Fives loved his brothers and he knew his brothers had all loved Echo, but Echo was _his._ Fives _liked_ Tup, and he thought that Echo would have liked their new kid brother, too. It wasn’t right for Tup to hear about Echo from anyone _but_ Fives.

So Fives sat next to Tup, swinging his legs up and nudging Tup’s aside to make more space. Once he was settled, drew in a deep breath.

“He was… well, he was a great guy, Echo. Smart and loyal and strong and all that. Everything we’re supposed to be, you know. Practically had all the reg manuals memorized. That’s how he got his name, quoting reg manuals at people. He didn’t do it so much after we made ARC, but he could repeat back every order we’d ever been given, word for word. He just had a memory for that sort of thing, I suppose.” Fives glanced over at Tup and gave a small smile.

“He always looked out for me, too. Even when I got us both into trouble.” Fives paused to blink away the stinging sensation in the corners of his eyes. Tup reached out a hand between them. Fives took it, squeezing his fingers as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Sorry.” he said. “I just… I really miss him.”

“I’m sorry.” Tup said. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” Fives insisted. He took a few more deep breaths. “Echo deserves to be talked about.” Tup squeezed his hand in a silent gesture for him to continue.

“He got the handprint from Rex, actually. On our first posting, on this moon…” He told Tup the Rishi story, his voice growing stronger the longer he talked. He didn’t even falter when he talked about Droidbait, Cutup, and Hevy. Tup didn’t say anything, just absorbed Fives’ words. Talking about Echo like this, to someone who hadn’t known him, who wasn’t also mourning him, felt like release, like letting the pus out of a wound. He didn’t have to worry about Tup trying to hide his pain in order to not inflict it on Fives, the way Rex sometimes did. He didn’t have to worry about whether he was bringing up painful memories for someone else. He could just talk. And occasionally pause to wipe his nose on the cleaning rag Tup handed him. 

Around them, the bunkroom quieted down, as their brothers climbed into their bunks and fell asleep. Fives and Tup ended up lying down on Tup’s bunk, facing each other with their hands intertwined between, Fives whispering to Tup about _that one time Echo and I stole Rex’s helmet and painted a kitty face on it with the Jaig eyes as the ears_. It was like a dam had broken, and now that he’d started, Fives just opened his mouth and out poured _EchoEchoEcho,_ memories of his brother being released to Tup, so Fives was no longer the only one holding them. Tup listened, wide-eyed and awake, long after Fives had any right to keep him from sleep, and for the first time since Echo had died, Fives felt a lightness in his chest, felt the invisible distance between him and at least this one brother shrink away. 

At long last, Fives stopped talking, when the strength of the weight dragging down his eyelids and the yawn cracking his jaw outweighed the flow of memories. A few moments of silence passed.

“Thank you for telling me.” Tup whispered across the space between them.

“Thank you for listening.” Fives said. There was no discussion about Fives returning to his own bed. It didn’t occur to either of them. Tup shifted to pull his blanket out from underneath them. Fives moved closer to let him pull the blanket around them. He tucked his head under Tup’s chin, and Tup slung his arm over Fives’ shoulder. As Fives drifted sleepily, Tup’s heartbeat - slightly faster than Echo’s - in his ear, he felt something he could only describe as brightness. There would always be an Echo-shaped hole in his soul, he would always stumble over the space where Echo used to be, but maybe, maybe he could find happiness anyway. Maybe he wouldn’t always be Fives-who-lost-Echo, but Fives-who-lost-Echo-and-found-Tup.

**Author's Note:**

> more like fingerprints on MY TIDDIES
> 
> listen, i intended Fives' handprint tattoo to be a loving homage to Echo. But also, this means that Fives has a blue nipple now. Like, he just does. The handprint is RIGHT OVER it. He HAD to get it tattooed. He wasn't just gonna NOT do the nipple and have a regular-colored nipple in the middle of a blue handprint.
> 
> so somewhere in the backstory of this fic is Fives sobbing gently about Echo while someone meticulously tattoos his nipple blue
> 
> title isn't from anything in particular, i just thought it sounded neat
> 
> anyway i'm on tumblr @maulusque, which is where all my star wars shit goes, and my main is @quousque.


End file.
